Lija Athletic brought their losing streak to an end as they earned their first point after thirteen consecutive defeats, holding Hamrun Spartans in a 1-1 draw at the Centenary Stadium on Friday.

The Spartans, on the other hand, are now sure of ending their commitments in eighth place as they now lie five points behind Sliema and nine ahead of Senglea.

After a most positive first half, the Spartans took the lead two minutes on the restart when off an assist by Arthur Faria Machado, Alexander Nilsson slotted the ball past goalkeeper Luke Bonnici.

However nine minutes from time, Lija levelled matters when Raphael Kooh Sohna advanced on the right before serving Erjon Beu who hit low past goalkeeper Steve Sultana.

HAMRUN Steve Sultana, Triston Caruana (60’ Guilherme Felipe de Castro), Darren Borg (78’ Thiago Espindola de Paula), Tiago Souza da Silveira, Daniel Zerafa, Karl Micallef, Arthur Faria Machado, Julian Galea, Marco Criaco, Dale Camilleri (87’ Lydon Micallef), Alexander Nilsson.
Subs not used: Jake Galea, Cristian Zaccardo, Jeremy Busuttil, Russell Vella.
Asst Coach: Ryan Pulis

LIJA Luke Bonnici, Predrag Babic, Ryan Sammut (73’ Antoine Borg), Daniel Scerri, Abubakar Bello Osagie, Aaron Sammut (65’ Karl Schembri), McAllister Clinch, Erjon Beu, Kei Hirose (89’ Gabriel Borg), Raphael Kooh Sohna, Ousmane Sidibe.
Subs not used: Jonathan Martinelli, Nigel Spieri, Dylan Agius, Vilfor Hysa.
Coach: Joseph Galea

Referee: Sandro Spiteri
Assistant Referees: Peter Abela, Dusan Petrovic
Fourh Official: Mario Apap
Yellow Cards: Souza, Bello Osagie, Scerri, Sidibe, T. de Paula
BOV Player of the Match: Luke Bonnici
Attendance: 97